Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Sep 30, 2011

The First Family at play:

Everyone pant breathlessly. First Lady MICHELLE OBAMA was "spotted" shopping at Target in the D-C suburb of Alexandria, VA, yesterday. Gee, she's just like us!
Her office confirmed it and explained that sometimes she likes to "slip out to run an errand, eat at a local restaurant, or otherwise enjoy the city outside the White House gates."
Editor's note: Give it about 16 months. She can do all the shopping outside the White House gates she wants. (Maiman)

Guilty Pleasures:

No winner in Tuesday night's drawing for the Mega Millions Lottery. That means tonight's drawing is valued at $113 million ($82.7 million cash value). Mega Millions is played in 42 states and Washington DC. Chances of winning the big prize are 1 in 175.7 million.

Idle gossip & unconfirmed rumors:

A third trip to the altar may be a charm for SHANNEN DOHERTY. Insiders close to the former wild child tell Life & Style magazine she's set to tie the knot with KURT ISWARIENKO on October 15th in Malibu, California. Shannen doesn't have the best luck in love --she divorced ASHLEY HAMILTON after just seven months of marital bliss in April of 1994 and her union with RICK SALOMON was anulled after seven-months in 2003. (Lee)

Man-Grooming:

Ever wonder if your city is “Mustache-friendly?” Neither did we. But the American Mustache Institute is very concerned about it. So they conducted a two year study to determine America’s Top 10 Most Mustache-Friendly Cities for 2011.
This is for real. The American Mustache Institute bills itself as “the world’s leading facial hair think tank and advocacy organization.” They say they employed behavioral economists, anthropologists and statisticians to create the Mustached American Lifestyle Index.
The Index rates cities based their "high concentrations of restaurants” that “primarily serve Miller Lite," and the per capita aggregate of monster trucks, motorcycles and A-T-Vs. They also rated cities for having a large pool of first-responders, actors and other “mustache-positive employers” with proven track records for hiring "mustached Americans."

Top 10 Most Mustache-Friendly Cities:

10. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida
9. Huntsville, Alabama
8. New York, New York
7. Cleveland, Ohio
6. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
5. Detroit, Michigan
4. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
3. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2. Houston, Texas
1. Chicago, Illinois

Losers in Lockup:

A raid at a Florida pawn shop has broken up an illegal dental hygiene ring.
According to the Palm Beach Post, three people have been charged with selling stolen teeth-whitening strips, electric toothbrushes and other oral care products. Acting on a tip, cops followed the suspects around and allegedly watched them rip off around 60 different stores in three counties. Investigators say the total value of the stolen merchandise was around three-million-bucks. (Still)